Cricket's Calling
Cricket's Calling is the second book of the Blood Moon series, fourth chronologically speaking. It follows the journeys of Tira, a noble runaway and Seker, a seafaring smuggler as they seek to right the wrongs inflicted upon them. The Big Picture The Protectorate The Protectorate have dissolved the monarchy of Lypter. The White Gold Council now has total control of the city after the crimes and transgressions of Queen Lisbet Emerant were revealed to the public. The Argent Inquisition now invades the communities surrounding Lypter, seeking witches, necromancers and the like. Persecutions, imprisonment and execution are now commonplace. Within the Council of Six, however, there is treachery. Vendrick Slate, Bishop of Itrenar, achieved his lofty position through talfar backing, and is now their puppet. Heavily in their debt and unable to pay the ruthless fey back, he must now be made an example of. The Warlocks The Pirates The Bloodreaver is leveraged into the service of the warlocks by Benniszth and Vaeliang, threatening his fleet's destruction. The warlocks seek to use him to cement the talfar as the rival power to the Protectorate in Naen in line with their divide and conquer machination. Dru'Wan and his pirates take their fury out on coastal communities of Naen, ravaging them for over 250 cycles at the dragon's request so that the talfar can step in to provide "protection". The Talfar The talfar aided in the dissolution of Lypter's monarchy, and now seek to eliminate Vendrick Slate, employing an assassin of Umbra to dispose of him, now instead choosing to use Jaegar Volim as their pawn in the eastern lands of Naen. Prologue Benniszth consorts with the warlocks of the Hunting Moon Tribe, and observes the savagery of Nazlaieqk in his youth as he slaughters his brothers and sisters. Dru'Wan the Bloodreaver meets with Vaeliang, who coerces him into further obedience. A talfar agent attends the court of Jaegar Volim to make a deal with the corrupt exile. Part One Prelude Arc One * Introduce the world and tone of the story * Introduce main character with an entrance * Foreshadow the moral change - the character's flaw * Introduce the other major players * Plan other props/skills of the character through their backstory Chapter I (Tira): '''Tira and Marvyn are assaulted by Slate and his men, and she escapes while her mentor is brutally executed. '''Chapter II (Seker): Chapter III (Tira): '''Tira travels south through the woods in a daze, suffering nightmares and waking to the calling of a single cricket in the undergrowth. '''Chapter IV (Seker): Chapter V (Tira): '''Entering the Nordic village of Skognhem, Tira meets and befriends Amundi Halvard, who plans to travel south to the Frozen Wastes. '''Chapter VI (Seker): Arc Two * The character resists their call to action Chapter VII (Tira): 'Tira and Amundi travel through the Troxan Mountains. Thinking they're being followed, Amundi leaves a carcass on the trail and they make camp atop a ledge overhead. During the night, an enormous chatan takes the carcass and then leaves their trail. The two share more about themselves. When Tira stares into the fire, it briefly flashes electric blue, and Amundi warns that she treads a dangerous path. '''Chapter VIII (Seker): ' '''Chapter IX (Tira): '''Tira and Amundi travel out of the mountains and head towards an old Jhoshan-era fortification. They see green lights across the old battlefields, and Amundi tells Tira of the demons that haunt sites of great tragedy on the hunt for souls. The pair stay the Long Nights within the garrison, before heading further south. '''Chapter X (Seker): Chapter XI (Tira): '''Arriving at Amundi's village, Ornskirk, Tira learns how to fight in the village square, and learns more of the Nordic people and their history of slavery at the hands of the Jhoshans under the Emperor's rule. She learns that only the cruellest and most tenacious slavers still dared travel south after the Scourge of Shadows. Leaving the village, she travels onwards to the Frozen Ocean. '''Chapter XII (Seker): Arc Three * The first half-hearted attempt at action is shot down Chapter XIII (Tira): 'Tira injures herself and is soon stalked by a pack of winter wolves. Just before they tear her apart, she falls through thin ice into caverns tens of feet below. Regaining consciousness, she is led through the networks of ice passages by crawling streams of crickets that seem to appear from nowhere. They lead her to the dead skeleton of a dorogar, half buried in ice. She finds a steel shortsword which feels warm to the touch. '''Chapter XIV (Seker): ' '''Chapter XV (Tira): '''Exiting the subterranean world, Tira continues onwards despite her numerous injuries, hoping against hope to reach a settlement before the wolves find her again. However, the animals to catch up to her, and sure that she is about to be devoured, she takes a last brave stand, raising the sword to defend herself. To her astonishment it bursts into flame and drives the wolves away in a panic. Figures loom out of the snowstorm as she loses consciousness. '''Chapter XVI (Seker): Chapter XVII (Tira): '''Tira awakens in a shelter on the edge of the Frozen Ocean, being tended to by her grandfather, Torvik Yura. Reunited, she is told how hunters found her and brought her back to the village before death found her. She asks about her mother but is shushed back to rest. Tira learns the ways of life of her mother's people and is taught the language of spirits by her grandfather, the tribe's shaman and wise-man. He teaches her of the dorogar who fashioned the sword she holds and of the fire spirits that are bound to it. '''Chapter XVIII (Seker): Arc Four * The second, genuine attempt to overcome adversity also fails * The character's flaw gets in their way * There is a strong hint at the character's need to change Chapter XIX (Tira): 'Tira hunts with the adlivun people, and has a close encounter with death in the form of a great beast of the sea. '''Chapter XX (Seker): ' '''Chapter XXI (Tira): '''Over two cycles have passed and Tira still hasn't gotten an answer out of her grandfather about what happened the day her mother was stolen from him. Plucking up the courage to ask, she finally finds the answers she seeks. Her tearful mentor tells of the night their village was caught off guard by brutal slavers led by a man with cold grey eyes... who was referred to by his men as Vendrick Slate. '''Chapter XXII (Seker): Chapter XXIII (Tira): '''Tira sits at night alone by the communal fire-pit, filled with rage at the crimes committed against those close to her by Slate. Hungering for vengeance upon him, she becomes aware of the cricket's chorus yet again, this time deafening, although she appears to be the only one to hear it. The dying embers burst into roaring blue flames and a great spirit rises from them, claiming to be an envoy of Flamberge. The ettin tells her to embrace her destiny to exact revenge and right the wrongs done by this cruel man. She agrees. '''Chapter XXIV (Seker): Part Two Prelude Fresh out of the torture chambers, Vendrik Slate obssesses over his insane dreams of the witch who cursed him, growing more and more paranoid in his private quarters. He reflects upon his debts to the talfar, and dismisses them, thinking them no threat. Scaethar, an assassin of Umbra, approaches the city of Lypter to fulfil his contract to eliminate a certain individual who has caused his employer a great deal of trouble... Torvik Yura watches as his granddaughter departs north in a sturdy kayak, bound for the city of Lypter. Arc Five * Confrontation with the need to change in order to eventually succeed * The character's eyes are opened to reality - that they must "change or die" * The character retreats to lick their wounds Chapter XXV (Tira): ' '''Chapter XXVI (Seker): ' '''Chapter XXVII (Tira): Chapter XXVIII (Seker): Chapter XXIX (Tira): Chapter XXX (Seker): Arc Six * Creation of a new plan of action * Now the character is prepared to take a different approach * Resolve to change for the betterment of the self and of the world Chapter XXXI (Tira): ' '''Chapter XXXII (Seker): ' '''Chapter XXXIII (Tira): Chapter XXXIV (Seker): Chapter XXXV (Tira): Chapter XXXVI (Seker): Arc Seven * The character puts their final plan into action * The character is almost destroyed in some manner in the process * The tables are turned on the adversary/antagonistic element Chapter XXXVII (Tira): 'Tira breaks out of the prison and infiltrates the quarters of the temple of Itrenar. '''Chapter XXXVIII (Seker): ' '''Chapter XXXIX (Tira): '''Tira kills Slate mere moments before Scaethar's crossbow bolt hits him in the head, and rapidly exits the temple district. '''Chapter XL (Seker): Chapter XLI (Tira): '''Fleeing the guards of the city, Tira experiences inner turmoil at the act she has committed, questioning whether it was the right thing to do. '''Chapter XLII (Seker): Arc Eight * The adversary has one last opportunity to defeat the character somehow * The character fully triumphs and the world is bettered * BUT leave some form of a cliff-hanger to set up the next book in the series Chapter XLIII (Tira): '''Tira is ambushed by Scaethar in the sewers, and the two of them briefly clash in the darkness. '''Chapter XLIV (Seker): Chapter XLV (Tira): '''Tira escapes down the Greywater River in a small boat. '''Chapter XLVI (Seker): Chapter XLVII (Tira): '''Tira becomes the goddess Flamberge's chosen immortal avatar. '''Chapter XLVIII (Seker): Epilogue